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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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TWELVE GOOD 
MEN ^ TRUE 



COMPILED 
BY 

FRANKLYN HOBBS 



PUBLISHED BY 

FRANKLYN HOBBS & COMPANY 
CHICAGO 



d4 



,, 1910 



COPTRIGHT, 1909 

FRANKLYN HOBBS & COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

All rights reserved 






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FOREWORD 



'Lives of great men all remind us — " 




UCH indeed can we gain from 



a painstaking study of the 
why's of the success of men 
who have come to be classed 
among the truly great. Men 
like Benjamin Franklin, Wil- 
liam Penn, George William 
Childs, and Abraham Lincoln have lived 
in vain, unless you and I can gather 
some bit of philosophy, some pleasant 
thought, or some habit of life — the one 
or the other of which will make us better 
men, or add to the peace and tranquillity 
of our lives. 

This volumette is intended to place 
one thought, one idea of right living 



before its readers, in such brief and 
understandable form, that anyone who 
cares for his own future or the future 
happiness of those dear ones about him, 
will be able to read, think, digest and 
act — 

Act — magic word. Reader, if from 
the following pages you will extract one 
idea, imitate one thought or act of one 
of these twelve men, I will have been 
repaid a thousand times and more. 

Put yourself on trial, with these 
"twelve fi^ood men and true" as the jury. 
What would be their opinion of your 
habits of life? And now, having given 
yourself a fair trial, are you — you, 
yourself — satisfied that you have done 
— are doing — everything you can to 
leave a name behind you, an impress on 
the crust cf the heart of the world? 

We love the memory of Franklin for 
what he gave us in example of thought 
and act. He discovered electricity, a 
thiner in itself jjreat — but it is not that 



for which we revere his memory. What 
then? For the example he set us of 
honesty of purpose, of frugahty, of 
steadfastness. 

The germ of greatness is in us all and 
needs only careful nurture and develop- 
ment. Money of itself is not power, but 
it is a means of developing power. By 
its proper use, one may secure education 
through association, through books, and 
by means of travel. The man with 
money in his pocket — if he be a man — 
can always command respect and atten- 
tion. 

First, then, let us be men — honest 
and dependable men — and then let us 
have money — the wherewithal to carry 
forward and make happy and comfort- 
able the lives of ourselves and those look- 
ing to or depending upon us. 

Bacon said — "A man's ordinary ex- 
penses ought to be but to the half of his 
receipts, and if he think to wax rich, but 
to the third part." However, incomes 



are larger than in the days of Bacon, 
who hved three hundred and fifty years 
ago. Then, the salary of the parish 
priest might have been as much as two 
hundred and fifty dollars a year, and so 
now the man who religiously sets aside 
a small part of his income, and lives com- 
fortably and carefully, may and prob- 
ably will find himself in easy circum- 
stances before he has lived his twoscore 
and ten, with still a score of his best 
years ahead — 3^ears to which he can 
look forward w^ithout fear. 




TWELVE GOOD MEN 
AND TRUE 



CHAPTER ONE 



BENJAIMIN FRANKLIN 






^ 



RANKLiN^ born the son of a 
Boston candlemaker in 1706, 
stands out as a man, a dis- 
tinct type of man, which has 
never been duplicated. 

When we remember that 
his entire schooling covered 
a period of less than two years, and 
those years between the ages of eight- 
and-a-half and ten, we can scarcely credit 
the history of his later life. This his- 
tory, the authenticity of which is of 
course unquestioned, shows him as a busi- 
ness man of consequence in 1730, when 
only twenty-four years old. Starting 
with nothing but an earnest purpose at 

9 



the age of seventeen, he, in the short 
space of seven years, reached a place in 
the business world which many men 
might envy. 

It was about this time that he married 
Mrs. Rogers. As Miss Read, she had 
been a sweetheart of Franklin's before 
he went to England. She had seen him 
arrive in the city of Philadelphia in the 
fall of 1728 looking for work. His 
biographers describe him as "A boy of 
seventeen — his pockets bulging with his 
necessary change of underclothing, with 
a loaf of bread under each arm, while he 
calmly strode up the street munching a 
third loaf." Let us here interject that 
when he had satisfied his own hunger, he 
gave the other two loaves to a poor wo- 
man and her children. On this memor- 
able walk he was seen and laughed at by 
Miss Read, who seven years later became 
Mrs. Franklin. She had scoffed at his 
homely garb and homelier lunch, but she 
had even then seen through his dirt and 
rags and recognized a man. 

Franklin found a job the next day in 
a print shop, and to the day of his death 
he was never happier than when setting 

10 



type or running a press. He found out- 
let for his thoughts by writing, setting 
up and printing them. To his having 
secured a position in Keimer's Print 
Shop are we indebted for all of the good 
counsel and beautiful thoughts which he 
left behind for posterity to read and 
enjoy. 

In 1756 Franklin was the recognized 
leader of the people of Pennsylvania. 
He went to England on a diplomatic 
mission for the Colonies in 1757 and did 
not return to America until the fall of 
1762. 

Franklin is perhaps best known to all 
of us as the author of "Poor Richard's 
Almanack," the publication of which he 
started in 1733. Some of the following 
wise counsel appeared in its pages : 

"Creditors are a superstitious sect, 
great observers of set days and times." 

"If thou wouldst live long, live well, 
for folly and wickedness shorten life." 

"Money and good manners make the 
gentleman." 

The character of Benjamin Franklin 
is one which any of us would do well to 
emulate. 

11 



The last important acts of his hfe 
were his activity in the drafting of the 
Constitution for the United States, and 
his speeches and writings against slave- 
holding in this country. 

His father, Josiah Franklin, died in 
1744, and his mother, Abiah, lived until 
1752. 

Franklin died at the age of eighty- 
four, three years after his last return 
from Europe, where he had been on a 
diplomatic mission for the United States 
Government. 




12 



CHAPTER TWO 



WILLIAM PENN 




iLLiAM PENN was bom on 
Tower Hill, London, Eng- 
land, October 4, 1644. He 
was the son of William and 
Margaret Jasper Penn. 

Penn joined the Society 
of Friends in 1667. His 
father disowned him and he began to 
preach and write in 1668 and published 
"The Sandy Foundation Shaken", for 
which he was imprisoned nine months in 
London Tower. While there he wrote 
"No Cross, No Crown." 

In 1672 he married Gulielma Maria 
Springet, who died in 1694. 

In 1680 he entered upon a project of 
founding a colony of Friends in America 

13 



and in 1681 he and eleven other Quakers 
bought East Jersey. These twelve, with 
twelve more, appointed Robert Barclay 
Governor of New Jersey. Penn found 
that the King of England owed his 
father 16,000 pounds, and being the 
heir to this estate, he accepted this terri- 
tory of Pennsylvania, on August 21, 
1682, as payment. 

He advocated and promulgated laws 
to the effect that all children twelve years 
old should be taught a trade; all court 
proceedings be shortened; all prisons 
made workhouses; that capital crimes be 
confined to murder and treason. No 
oath was required of any man giving 
evidence, and treating in the drinking 
of healths was forbidden. Trading in 
rum, cursing, ring fighting, gambling, 
and theatrical performances were pro- 
hibited. 

He sold the land in the territory of 
Pennsylvania to the colonists at 40 shill- 
ings for one hundred acres, under a con- 
tract that one acre of trees should be left 
for each five acres cleared. This was 

14 



the beginning of the conservation of 
American forests, and fairly shows his 
frugaHty and foresight. 

In 1682 Penn started to America with 
one hundred Quakers on the ship "Wel- 
come''; twenty-five of these persons died 
during the trip. The remainder landed 
at Newcastle November 28, entering 
Pennsylvania November 29, 1682. They 
established a capital and called it Phila- 
delphia, and made a treaty with the 
Indians, recognizing them as the owners 
of the land. 

Penn supported King James in the 
abolition of the tests which prevented 
Roman Catholics from holding office, and 
insisted upon religious freedom in 
Pennsylvania. He was publicly pro- 
claimed a traitor, but was pardoned in 
1693 through his personal friendship 
with King James. He returned to Phila- 
delphia in 1690, this city then having a 
population of seven thousand souls. 

He returned to England October 28, 
1701, and internal strife immediately be- 
gan in Pennsylvania, worry over which 
so impaired his health that he suffered a 
stroke of paralysis in 1712, which ren- 

15 



dered him completely helpless, but he 
lived until July 30, 1718, finally ending 
his days at Ruscombe, Berkshire, Eng- 
land. 




16 



CHAPTER THREE 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 




ORN at Shadwell, Virginia, 
April 13, 1743, Thomas 
Jefferson became in 1801 
the third President of the 
United States. His family 
had come to Virginia about 
1612, and his father assisted 
as a civil engineer in making the first 
map of Virginia. His father died in 
1757 and his mother in 1776. 

Thomas had a good educational op- 
portunity and finally graduated from 
the College of William and Mary in 
1765^. He was admitted to the bar in 
1767. 

Thomas Jefferson first met George 
Washington in 1769 when they were 

17 



both members of the House of Burgesses 
of Virginia, which was the same as our 
State Legislature of today. He was 
married on New Year's Day, 1772, to 
Mrs. Martha Skelton. 

From the time of his marriage on, 
Jefferson devoted a portion of his time 
to law, but by far the greater portion 
to his farms, which had increased in size 
until he had in pasturage and under 
cultivation, upwards of 60,000 acres. 

His law business was turned over to 
his cousin, Edmund Randolph, when he 
was elected to the Continental Congress 
and went to Philadelphia in the summer 
of 1775. With Franklin, Adams, Sher- 
man and Livingston, he served on the 
Committee appointed to draft a Declara- 
tion of Independence. Jefferson drew a 
rough draft of a declaration which he 
submitted to the other members of the 
Committee, this rough draft being now 
in the Congressional Library at Wash- 
ington. 

Jefferson's opportunities for educa- 
tion and advancement were better than 
those of most other men of his time, but 
it is notable that all of his education, his 

18 



legal work, his political offices, and his 
diplomatic duties never weaned him 
away from the soil. Thomas Jefferson 
was first, last and always a farmer. 

He was elected Governor of Virginia 
in 1779 and re-elected in 1780. He de- 
clined the re-nomination for Governor 
which was tendered him. Mrs. Jefferson 
died September 6, 1782, and was deeply 
mourned by Mr. Jefferson, for theirs 
was a happy union. 

While in Congress in 1783 Jefferson 
introduced the Decimal Currency Bill. 
In 1784 he was elected by Congress a 
Commissioner to France to work with 
Franklin and Adams in making commer- 
cial treaties with European Powers. He 
was made Minister Plenipotentiary to 
France by the Eleventh Continental Con- 
gress, March 10, 1785. While abroad 
he made valuable collections of seeds, 
plants and livestock intended for distri- 
bution and propagation in the United 
States. 

It was while he was in France that the 
Constitution of the United States was 
adopted and Jefferson expressed his re- 
gret that the Presidential Term was not 

19 



fixed for seven years and with a No- 
Second-Term clause. He wrote many 
letters to friends in America urging that 
the prefixes "Excellency," "Worship," 
"Esquire," or even "Mr." should not 
apply to any holder of office in the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. Being 
truly democratic, Jefferson abhorred 
titles and objected to being referred to 
as "Honorable" or "Esquire," but un- 
der the usage of the day he had earned 
both titles. 

In the Presidential election of 1800 
he received seventy-three electoral votes, 
Aaron Burr also receiving seventy-three. 
This made it necessary for the House of 
Representatives to make a choice, and 
they elected Jefferson third President of 
the United States, Aaron Burr becoming 
Vice-President. 

His term expired March 4, 1809, and 
the remainder of his life was given to 
the cultivation of his extensive farms and 
the building of the University of Vir- 
ginia. Jefferson's farm was a model one, 
and his hospitality became proverbial. 
His great house containing sixty bed- 
rooms was always filled, and "Monti- 

20 



cello," his home, was a meeting place for 
the progressive men of the age. He es- 
tablished the University of Virginia, 
which for many years was often referred 
to as Jefferson's University. 

Jefferson died on Independence Day, 
1826, and on the same day died John 
Adams. His last resting place on his 
estate at Monticello is marked — "Here 
was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of 
the Declaration of American Independ- 
ence, of the Statute of Virginia for Re- 
ligious Freedom, and Father of the Uni- 
versity of Virginia." 

In the selection of names for the Hall 
of Fame for Great Americans in Octo- 
ber, 1900, the name of Thomas Jefferson 
received ninety votes out of a possible 
ninety-seven. 

This, in brief, is the story of a man 
who gave all of his earthly possessions 
in the service of his country and for the 
benefit of the people, and although he 
died poor, his country and his friends 
actually owed him enough at the time 
of his death to have made him wealthy. 
Congress purchased his library for about 
$23,000 at a time when he needed funds, 

21 



and it was well known at that time that 
the library could not be duplicated for 
$100,000. One personal friend owed 
him $20,000 on the day of his death, on 
which his widow never realized. The 
last words of John Adams, who died on 
the same day but a few hours later than 
Jefferson, were — '"Thomas Jefferson still 
sundves." 




22 



CHAPTER FOUR 



JOHN WANAMAKER 




OHN WANAMAKER WaS bom 

in Philadelphia, July 11, 
1838. 

He had a common school 
education, and when four- 
teen years old struck out for 
himself. He was made Secre- 
tary of the Y. M. C. A. in Philadelphia 
when he was nineteen years old, which 
place he filled with credit for four years. 
He was employed in a clothing house for 
several years, and in 1875 established a 
store of his own under his own name. 

While a clerk in the clothing store he 
lived carefully, and during a period of 
about fifteen years established the foun- 
dation of his present fortune. 

He declined a nomination for Con- 
gress on the Republican ticket, which 

2d 



nomination would have been equivalent 
to his election. He also declined a 
nomination for Mayor of Philadelphia 
in 1886. He was appointed Postmaster 
General by President Harrison in 1889. 

Mr. Wanamaker has been a potent in- 
fluence in the municipal affairs of Phila- 
delphia for the past thirty-five years and 
has done much to keep down political 
corruption. 

His particular hobby is the Presby- 
terian Sunday School which he founded 
in 1858 and the Y. M. C. A., which hf 
has always ardently as well as financially 
supported. 

His business has been run on a co- 
operative plan and the employes share 
in the prosperity of the concern. Many 
of his employes have celebrated their 
silver anniversary in his employ, and his 
great stores in Philadelphia and New 
York to-day give profitable employment 
to thousands. 

Mr. Wanamaker has always been will- 
ing to pay for ability, and while he has 
never been antagonistic to Unions among 
his clerks, he insists upon rewarding in- 
dividual ability. 

24 



The last chapter of Mr. Wanamaker's 
life has yet to be written, but up to this 
time his career would be a safe ideal for 
any young man to work toward. 

A prominent man in Philadelphia in 
a speech recently said, "Would that we 
had more Wanamakers in Pennsyl- 



vania • 



I" 




25 



CHAPTER FIVE 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM 




Ew MEN were better known 
or more admired by the 
children than Phineas Taylor 
Barnum. Barnum always in- 
sisted that he inherited not 
only the name, but the char- 
acteristics, of Phineas Tay- 
lor, his mother's father. At any rate, he 
was the pet of his grandfather when a 
child, and from constant association ab- 
sorbed a great many of his ideas. His 
father was Philo Barnmii, a son of Capt. 
Ephraim Barnum. 

Phineas Taylor Barnum was born the 
day after the Fourth of July, 1810. His 
father was a farmer and tavern keeper, 
as well as tailor for some of his neigh- 
bors. Barnum had but little opportunity 
to get an education, his schooling going 

26 



little beyond the country district school. 
Barnum's first visit to York (now New 
York City) was made in 1822. He went 
to help drive a bunch of cattle, arriving 
there four days later, having tramped all 
the way through a heavy snow. After 
an eventful week in New York he re- 
turned home, even then determined to 
make New York City his future home. 

He later worked in a country store 
for a time on a percentage basis, and 
made money. 

In the Fall of 1826 Barnum was 
offered a job as clerk in a grocery store 
i: Brooklyn, which he accepted. At this 
time he became dissatisfied with the idea 
of working for a fixed salary. He 
could only see future independence for 
himself in some plan whereby he would 
get full pay for all he would do, and 
was allowed to do all that he could. In 
February, 1828, he returned to Bethel 
and started a retail fruit and confec- 
tionery store, buying his goods from 
New York City, starting the business 
with a capital of $120 which he had 
saved. 

27 



In 1831 he commenced the publication 
of "The Herald of Freedom," a weekly 
newspaper. Almost as soon as he started 
the paper he was overwhelmed with suits 
for libel, and finally was convicted and 
sentenced to sixty days in the county 
jail for an attack in his columns on a 
certain church deacon who had "been 
guilty of taking usury of an orphan 
boy." His release from prison w^as cele- 
brated by the whole population for miles 
around, and by a banquet at which sev- 
eral hundreds of his friends were pres- 
ent. He was driven in a coach drawn by 
six horses and accompanied by a band of 
music. The coach was preceded by forty 
horsemen, and this was Barnum's first 
introduction to a street parade, which 
had a great influence on his later life. 

In 1835 he moved to New York, and 
from that time on New York can be con- 
sidered his home. 

He began his career as a showman by 
purchasing Aunt Joice Heth, a negro 
woman supposed to be 161 years old, 
formerly the property of Gen. George 
Washington's father. He exliibited the 
negress in New York at Niblo's Garden. 

28 



She was supposed to be the nurse who 
first dressed the infant George Wash- 
ington. 

The most remarkable thing about Mr. 
Bamum's career was that he in whole or 
in part originated every vocation which 
he ever followed. His method of run- 
ning a fruit and candy store was his 
own, his plan of running a newspaper 
was his own, and later the show business 
as he conducted it was an entire novelty 
which was created by himself. 

In 1841 he opened a general agency 
for a certain edition of the Bible, con- 
ducting the business for about a year 
and selling thousands upon thousands of 
Bibles, but not finally making a very 
large profit. This was the last step 
aside from the show business, to which 
he then returned and to which he gave 
the balance of his life. 

Barnum was presented with a five- 
acre tract known as Ivy Island by his 
grandfather, and when it came to the 
purchase of Scudder's American Mu- 
seum he scheduled this property as se- 
curity for the unpaid portion of the 
purchase price, which was $12,000. Im- 

29 



mediately after the purchase of the Mu- 
seum began Barnum's real business ca- 
reer. He had bought the Museum 
largely on credit, and, as he expressed 
it, it was a "fight for life." He began 
the conduct of the Museum in 1841, 
naming it Barnum's American Museum, 
and began what was perhaps the most 
sensational advertising campaign ever 
conducted. Mr. Barnum's financial for- 
tune was already well started, but his 
discovery of Charles S. Stratton, whom 
he rechristened General Tom Thumb, 
was perhaps the most potent influence 
in his later money-making career. He 
paid Charley, who was then only five 
years of age, $7.50 per week, but a short 
time after increased his salary to $25. 

Mr. Bamum later discovered Jenny 
Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale," and 
managed her concert tour in America, 
paying her a salary of $1,000 per con- 
cert, at the same time netting himself as 
high as $10,000 to $20,000 per night. 
Ten thousand dollars of the receipts for 
the first concert were given to charity, 
and the receipts for the next concert 

30 



were divided equally between Mr. Bar- 
num and Miss Lind. 

Mr. Barnum seldom appeared on the 
stage or rostrum, but in 1852 he spent 
several months delivering temperance 
lectures throughout the state of Con- 
necticut, as well as in New York and 
Pennsylvania. He was an ardent prohi- 
bitionist and could always draw a large 
audience. 

The later years of Mr. Barnum's life 
were spent at his "Oriental Villa" near 
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Here his four 
daughters paid him many visits and ma- 
terially brightened his last years. He 
died in 1891, having lived an eventful, 
busy, and yet withal, careful life. 




31 







CHAPTER SIX 



PETER COOPER 




EFORE the end of the First 
Presidential Term of George 
Washington, or, to be more 
exact, in the year 1791, 
Peter Cooper was born in 
the City of New York. El- 
bert Hubbard, in writing of 
Peter Cooper, refers to him as "Ameri- 
ca's First Business Man," and also cred- 
its him with practicing the Golden Rule 
and making it profitable to do so. 

Of this we may be sure — Peter Cooper 
was the first really great business man 
born a citizen of the United States of 
America. He lived to be ninety-two 
years old, or until 1883, and was an ac- 
tive, indefatigable worker to the close 
of his Hfe. Engaging during his long 
life in many different lines of work, he 

32 



made a decided success of most of them. 

Beginning his business career as one 
of a large family who were, even accord- 
ing to the standard of that day, quite 
poor, brought out the initiative, the 
power, and the endurance of Cooper. 

The entire time devoted to the school- 
ing of Peter Cooper would not equal one 
ordinary term in a city school of today. 
He learned to build coaches, made many 
improvements on them, became a finan- 
cier, and as he succeeded in educating 
himself through contact with the world, 
finally became a teacher of others. Coop- 
er's first wage was $25 per year, as an 
apprentice to a coach maker, with a four- 
year term to serve. In the first half of 
that period he saved something more 
than $20. Recognizing Cooper's thrift 
and careful manner of living, his em- 
ployer increased his pay for the third 
and fourth year. He conceived the idea 
of building stage coaches on his own ac- 
count, but hired out to a woolen manu- 
facturer for a dollar and a half a day 
in order to get capital. This was high 
wages for the time, but Cooper had much 
inventive genius, and while at work in 

33 



this mill made a machine of great value 
to his employer. He sold his interest in 
the machine to Michael Vassar, founder 
of Vassar College. 

He married Sarah Bedell and his wed- 
ded life was long and happy, covering a 
period of more than fifty years. 

In 1812 he started a furniture fac- 
tory and exchanged it for a glue fac- 
tory. He was then just past thirty- 
three, and the foundation of his fortune 
was laid. He made glue and later in 
the same factory he made a locomotive 
steam engine which he patented. 

With the surplus profits from the glue 
business he bought suburban Baltimore 
real estate. He later invested his spare 
money in stock of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad Company, the first rail- 
road company in America, organized in 
1827. This railroad would mean much 
to his Baltimore property. He built 
the engine w^hich made the first trip on 
the new road, the thirteen miles being 
covered in less than an hour and a quar- 
ter. The return journey was made in 
less than an hour. 

34 



When Cooper reached the age of forty 
years he was worth $50,000, and when 
he was fifty he was worth $200,000, be- 
ing a man of power and influence and 
one of the wealthiest men in New York. 
He did not, however, devote his mind to 
money-making, but was always working 
in the interests of the people. He or- 
ganized the Police System of New York, 
the first Fire Department, and established 
the first Water Works. 

While a member of the New York 
School Board he worked out an educa- 
tional system which the Board refused to 
adopt. This caused him to establish 
Cooper Union, a school which is today a 
model for the world as an educational in- 
stitution. In building Cooper Union he 
used structural iron in combination with 
brick, and thus began steel building con- 
struction in America. His investment in 
the Cooper Union property was nearly 
three-quarters of a million. 

Peter Cooper had an ideal and that 
ideal was Benjamin Franklin. He lived 
up to his ideal, and if the poor deserving 
boy of America ever had a better friend 

35 



than Benjamin Franklin it was Peter 
Cooper. 

The memory of Peter Cooper still 
lives in Cooper Union, or Cooper Insti- 
tute, as it is sometimes called. 

Cooper was candidate for the Presi- 
dency of the United States on the Inde- 
pendent ticket in 1876. 

Peter Cooper died in 1883 at the age 
of ninety-two. 




3G 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 




' GEORGE WASHINGTON WaS 

the "Father of His Coun- 
try," Abraham Lincoln was 
the "Brother of Mankind." 
He was born February 12, 
^^UW 1809, in Hardin County, 
Kentucky, his parents com- 
ing originally from Virginia. When Abe 
was eight years old his family moved to 
Spencer County, Indiana, and there he 
grew up. He once said : "When I came 
of age I didn't know much. I could 
read, write and cipher, but that was all, 
and I have not been to school since." 

He worked on his father's farm until 
he was twenty-two years of age, and 
about that time became a Captain of 
Volunteers in the Blackhawk War. In 
1832 he ran for the legislature and was 

37 



defeated. In later years he used to be 
fond of saying that this was the only 
time he was ever beaten by the people. 
At the four next succeeding elections he 
was elected to the legislature. During 
his legislative terms he studied law, and 
in 1849 went to Springfield to practice, 
continuing law practice until 1854. He 
was always a Whig in politics. 

Lincoln left as a part of his estate 
at his death, a quarter section of land in 
Kentucky given to him by Uncle Sam 
as a reward for notable service in the 
Blackhawk War. 

It is unnecessary to go into the early 
life of Abe Lincoln in order to show 
the almost abject poverty of his family. 
He was so eager for books that at one 
time he pulled cornstalks for three days 
to pay a neighbor for a book. He once 
wrote to a friend : "One can scarcely be 
so poor but that, if he will, he can ac- 
quire sufficient education to get through 
the world respectably." 

George Washington was Lincoln's 
ideal and he used to read about and try 
to imitate him. When Lincoln was yet 

38 



a poor boy he used to say: "Some day 
I will be president." 

Strong in body and healthful in mind, 
Abe had no "bad habits — no stain of in- 
temperance, profanity or vice." 

He could jump higher and further, 
run faster, and in a catch-as-catch-can 
wrestle, put any man on his back. 

In 1830 Lincoln's family moved near 
Decatur, Illinois. Abe shared his earn- 
ings with his parents and was always 
sending presents home. He bought them 
land, oxen and other things needed on 
the farm. 

While he was working in a store at 
Cambridge, in making change for an old 
woman, he made a mistake and that 
evening found his cash over. It was 
only a few cents, but Abe walked a long 
distance to her house through a blizzard 
to return the money. This incident gave 
him the sobriquet "Honest Abe." 

He kept the postoffice for a time, but 
was never finally "checked out" by the 
government inspector. Several years 
later when he was in Springfield, and at 
a time when he was very poor and deeply 

39 



in debt, a government inspector called, 
checked up his accounts, and found him 
owing the government eighteen dollars 
and some cents. Abe's employer was 
about to pay over the amount for him, 
knowing that he could not possibly have 
saved so much money, when Abe asked 
time to go to his boarding place. He 
returned in a few minutes with an old 
blue sock and dumped out on the table 
silver and copper coins to the exact 
amount due Uncle Sam, these being the 
same coins he had taken in as postmaster. 
During the time this trust fund had been 
in his possession he had missed many a 
meal. This is another example of his 
scrupulous honesty. 

The first speech of the famous Lin- 
coln-Douglas debate was made from the 
balcony of the Tremont House, Chicago, 
July 9, 1858, by Douglas. The following 
evening Lincoln replied. Although he 
was defeated in this campaign for the 
United States senate, he was elected two 
years later to the presidency, as a direct 
resuH of his logical and fair arguments. 

About August, 1862, Lincoln pre- 
pared the Emancipation Proclamation, 

40 



and against the advice of most of the 
members of his cabinet, issued it Septem- 
ber 22, 1862, to be effective January 1, 
1863. When Lincohi was re-elected to 
the presidency, his second inaugural ad- 
dress was said to be the greatest 
state paper in all history. Unfortu- 
nately, space forbids its reproduction 
here. 

While president, Lincoln's life was 
threatened many times. He never knew 
fear, but these constant threats against 
himself made him very sad. He was 
shot by John Wilkes Booth, brother of 
Edwin Booth, April 14, 1865, and died 
the next day. 

Mrs. Lincoln was afterAvards mentally 
unbalanced, and representatives of news- 
papers which had been hostile to Lincoln 
persecuted her, misquoted her, and gar- 
bled her statements to the great annoy- 
ance of the family, and thus hindered 
reconstruction and the uniting of the 
North and South. The persecution of 
Mrs. Lincoln by the press will stand for 
all time as a blot on American chivalry 
and as the worst known abuse of the 
freedom of the press. 

41 



Almost a half century after the issu- 
ance of the Emancipation Proclamation, 
Lincoln has come to be fully understood 
and is today beloved by South as well as 
North, East as well as West, and by the 
whole English-speaking world. 




43 



CHAPTER EIGHT 



HORACE GREELEY 




ORACE GREELEY was bom at 
Amherst, Nfew Hampshire, 
February 3, 1811, being one 
of the seven children of Zac- 
cheus Greeley. He was a 
precocious youngster, and at 
the age of two began read- 
ing the Bible. He was never taught to 
read, but at the age of three could 
read easily any children's book, and at 
four seemed to be able to grasp and 
understand any book. At a very early 
age he amused himself by reading books 
upside down. These points only empha- 
size the clearness of his intellect and his 
unusual ability to grasp a thought. 

43 



His entire schooling was limited to the 
district school. After he had passed the 
age of five no one ever succeeded in giv- 
ing him a word ho could not spelL 

In 1826, Horace became a printer's 
devil at East Poultney. One of his asso- 
ciates in the printing office had this to 
say of Greeley when he y>^as thirty years 
old : "If ever there was a self-made man 
this same Horace Greeley is one, for he 
had neither wealth nor influential friends, 
collegiate nor academic education, nor 
anything to start him in the world, save 
his own native good sense and uncon- 
trollable love of study and a determina- 
tion to win his way by his own efforts." 
In a later letter from the same associate : 
"Knowing Horace Greeley as I do and 
have done for thirty years, I know his 
integrity, purity and generosity." 

In 1830, when nineteen years of age, 
the printing office in which he was em- 
ployed was closed. He had completed 
his trade as a printer and confronted the 
world. He went on foot to his father's 
home in Pennsylvania, shortening his 
walk by getting occasional rides on canal 
boats, and completing his journey by a 

44 



walk of one hundred miles through the 
woods. Horace had a year before in- 
jured a leg and walked at this time with 
great difficulty. 

As soon as he was able to walk again 
he went to Jamestown, twenty miles 
away, and secured a position in a print- 
ing office, but his employer failed to 
pay him. He finally found himself at 
work in the office of the Erie Gazette, 
where his ambition and attentiveness to 
his work were appreciated. While there 
he saved all that he earned except $6.00, 
his board, room and washing having been 
included in his wages. The sum he saved 
during the seven months was approxi- 
mately $115.00, which he took home and 
gave to his father, who at that time was 
in sad need of it. 

Greeley's experience with Greeley & 
Company in publishing the paper known 
as "The New Yorker" was a consider- 
able set-back to him, as while the news- 
paper was popular, it was far from be- 
ing profitable. He never drew a dollar 
out of it as salary or expenses. Almost 
a wreck in 1837, "The New Yorker" 

45 



continued to grow until a few years later 
it had really reached a profit-paying 
basis, Mr. Greeley having had during 
the period seven different partners who 
did not have the stick-to-itiveness to wait 
for success. Mr. Greeley did not make 
it a real financial success, but he hung 
on until during the presidential cam- 
paign of 1840 — the year of "Tippe- 
canoe and Tyler too" — he was undoubt- 
edly the most potent force in the cam- 
paign. Mr. Greeley wrote articles, made 
speeches, sat on committees, traveled, 
gave advice, and suggested plans. His 
two newspapers, "The Log Cabin" and 
"The New Yorker," were later merged in 
the New York Tribune. 

In establishing the Tribune, Mr. 
Gieeley furnished all the capital, which 
was not much from a money standpoint. 
He had, however, great capital in "repu- 
tation, credit, experience, talent, and op- 
portunity." He was known to be of 
incorruptible integrity — one who would 
pay his debts at any and every sacrifice 
and one who would not contract an obli- 
gation which he was not sure of being- 
able to discharge. 

46 



Even at that time there were a hun- 
dred periodicals pubhshed in New York 
among which were eleven other daily pa- 
pers. The Tribune venture was in every 
way a success. 

Mr. Greeley was elected a member of 
congress in 1848 to fill the remaining 
three months of an unexpired term. In 
1852 he spent three months in Europe 
visiting England and the continent. 

He reported the doings of congress 
in his paper during the session of 1856. 
He announced that he went to congress 
for the purpose of unmasking hypoc- 
risy, putting down treachery, and de- 
feating meanness. He was twice as- 
saulted by members of congress, and 
several times his life was threatened. The 
Albany Knickerbocker, knowing him to 
really be the soul of honor, said: "The 
fellow who would strike Horace Greeley 
would strike his own mother." Mr. 
Greeley, however, made no protest, went 
about unarmed and continued to call err- 
ing congressmen to account, much to the 
benefit of the entire country. 

On the first day of May, 1872, at 
Cincinnati, Mr. Greeley was nominated 

47 



for the presidency on the sixth ballot by 
the Liberal Republican party. Mr. 
Greeley's popularity was largely trace- 
able to his work both before and during 
the Civil War in the interests of Aboli- 
tion. 

This man who was farmer, printer, 
journalist, politician, and an avowed 
Abolitionist, was big enough and broad 
enough, at the close of the Civil War, to 
protest against the prolonged imprison- 
ment of the Confederate president, Jef- 
ferson Davis, and himself signed a bond 
for Davis' release, an act which at the 
time was much misunderstood and se- 
verely criticised. 

He opposed General Grant for the 
presidency, having the nomination of 
the Liberal Republicans and endorsement 
of the Democrats, but was defeated. 
This defeat killed him, for he died be- 
tween election day and the official cast- 
ing of the electoral vote. While Grant 
was elected, Greeley polled almost as 
many popular votes as Grant. 

He was the people's friend, the peo- 
ple's idol, and his impress upon this 
country can never be erased. 

48 



CHAPTER NINE 



PHILIP DANFORTH ARMOUR 




MONG manufacturers of the 
nineteenth century, perhaps 
no one stands out any more 
prominently than Phihp 
Danforth Armour. Mr. Ar- 
mour was born in 1832 on 
an Oneida County farm in 
New York. This farm adjoins the prop- 
erty which is now occupied by the Oneida 
Community. He was one of six sons. 

Phihp Armour was ahvays a tireless 
worker, but it was not until 1851 that 
he really found the necessity and the op- 
portunity for branching out for himself, 
and he started on foot for the new gold 
fields of the Pacific coast. Walking the 
entire distance, he arrived in a little over 



49 



six months, being the only one of the 
party which started to "arrive," and it 
was at this period that Phihp Danforth 
Armour did "arrive." He demonstrated 
his physical and mental superiority over 
his companions in this instance, and he 
fully demonstrated it in the business 
world many times thereafter. 

Deciding that gold mining was more 
or-less uncertain of results, he began tak- 
ing contract work for sluices and runs, 
and in a short time was employing a 
large number of men. 

Returning from California five or six 
years later he saw for the first time Chi- 
cago and Milwaukee. As a choice of 
location he selected Milwaukee and went 
into the business of handling produce. 
Shortly after he became a partner of 
John Plankinton, and during the Civil 
War the firm was highly successful and 
the business very profitable. 

It was not long until Mr. Armour saw 
the advantages of Chicago over ^lilwau- 
kee, and in 1871 the house of Armour & 
Company, which is today conducting the 
largest packing business in the world, 
was established. 

50 



The success of Mr. Armour's first ven- 
ture, the success of the concern of Plank- 
inton & Armour, and later, the success 
of Armour & Company, were all due in 
large measure to the keen for^^sisjht, cool 
business judgment and untiring energy 
of Philip Armour. 

Armour was a man who made men. 
First he made himself and did a good 
job, and from that time forward he was 
making other men. Those men who have 
graduated from under his tutelage into 
the business world are many of them 
numbered among the most successful 
business men of today. 

With it all, he was careful — careful 
of his physical well-being, of his health, 
and of his earnings. He spared nothing 
which would make him a better man men- 
tally or physically, but indulged in no 
excesses, always being the first man at 
the plant in the morning, and with the 
day's work well done, usually the first 
man to leave the plant at night. Mr. 
Armour was no night-worker. He rose 
with the sun and often very much before 
it, did an honest day's work for himself 
and his dissociates, and left the sluggards 

51 



to burn the midnight oil while he "slept 
the sleep of the just." For he was pri- 
marily a just man. 

Among the men whom Armour started 
on the road to success are C. H. Mac- 
Dowell, Everett Wilson, Thomas J. Con- 
nors, George Robbins — these and dozens 
of other men have been made better, 
bigger and more successful through as- 
sociation with Philip Danforth Armour. 

He founded the Armour Institute of 
Technology, and was in reality more of 
a philanthropist than even his closest 
friends knew. He started the first re- 
frigeration car line, making possible the 
placing of all kinds of fruits, flowers, 
fresh meats and provisions direct from an 
iced car into the merchant's refrigerator. 

Philip Armour always sold 16 ounces 
for a pound and was never known to 
resort to sharp practice of any kind in 
his business dealings. His stereotyped 
advice to the boys was : "Be honest, be 
industrious, be saving, and you'll win." 

Mr. Armour's life ended in Chicago in 
January, 1901, at the age of sixty-nine 
years. 



52 



CHAPTER TEN 



RUSSELL SAGE 




ltssell, sage was born at 
Shenandoah, New York, 
August 4, 1816. Two years 
later his parents moved to 
Durhamville. When twelve 
years old he was an errand 
boy in his brother's grocery 
store, and at the age of twenty-one he 
went into partnership with another 
brother in the retail grocery business at 
Troy, New York. In 1839 the store was 
converted into a wholesale house and was 
owned by Russell Sage and John W. 
Bates. 

Mr. Sage became interested in politics 
and was elected alderman of Troy and 
later county treasurer. As the Whig 

53 



candidate for congress in 1850, he was 
defeated, but was elected at the next 
election and served from 1853 to 1857. 

At the close of his congressional ca- 
reer, during which time he became a 
friend of Jay Gould, he became engaged 
in financial matters, and in 1863 opened 
a broker's office in Wall street and began 
dealing in railroad stocks and bonds. His 
keen foresight and absolute honesty non- 
plussed his adversaries in the market, 
and in a very few years he had amassed 
a fortune estimated at from $50,000,000 
to $100,000,000. 

Mr. Sage has been called penurious 
and even "stingy." He was careful of 
his money, always exacted the last penny 
and always gave it. He has been known 
to eat a fifteen cent lunch and give a 
quarter to a newsboy for his afternoon 
paper. Like George W, Childs, he had 
a horror of waste, and his charities al- 
ways went to the most needy places. He 
was unostentatious, and while giving 
much toward good causes, his benefac- 
tions were often anonymous. 

His enormous fortune was left in care 
of his wife and is being distributed by 

54 



her in a most careful and effective 
manner. 

Among Mr. Sage's gifts might be 
mentioned a dormitory for the Troy 
Female Seminary, which cost a quarter 
of a million. 

His first wife was Miss Wynne and his 
second wife, Miss Olivia Slocum. 

Mr. Sage was one of those wholesome 
people whose money does not pervert his 
ideas, and his life was almost a perfect 
one. No scandal ever attached to his 
name and no one ever accused him of a 
sharp trick or a dishonest act. 

He was familiarly known to all as 
"Uncle Russell," which suggests the 
warm place he held in the hearts of 
many men. He died at his New York 
home in 1906. 

Since his death Mrs. Sage has been 
busy in the distribution of his wealth, 
$1,000,000 of which went to the Emma 
Willard Seminary, $150,000 to a sail- 
ors' home, $350,000 to the New York 
Y. M. C. A., and $10,000,000 to a fund 
for general philanthropic work. 



55 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS 




ORN of humble parentage in 
Baltimore, Maryland, May 
12, 1829, George William 
Childs early took an interest 
iJK in matters of business. His 
first separation from his 
home was when he was thir- 
teen years old, at Avhich time he served 
less than two years in the United States 
Navy. 

Childs began building his fortune as 
an errand boy in a book store at the age 
of fifteen, and by careful management 
was insured a competence for the re- 
mainder of his life by the time he reached 
his majority. 

When about twenty years old the firm 
of George W. Childs. & Company was 



56 



S9 W 



formed, for the purpose of making and 
selling confectionery, to which was later 
added soaps, perfumes and medicines. 
He sold out in 1850, and finally became 
a member of the publishing firm of 
Childs & Peterson. In 1864 he became 
interested in the Philadelphia Public 
Ledger which was just then in a bad 
way. Under the careful management of 
Childs, the paper immediately improved 
in tone and morals, and soon doubled its 
circulation and its advertising. In 1876 
a special building was constructed for 
its quarters. 

Mr. Childs was always ready to lend 
a helping hand to budding authors and 
was constantly offering prizes for the 
best literary productions. 

In 1868 his interest in the Typograph- 
ical Union took form in the gift of a 
plot of ground for a printers' cemetery, 
together with an endowment for its per- 
manent maintenance. Some time later he 
established a fund for the support of 
superannuated printers and printers' 
widows and orphans. 

He contributed half the money neces- 
sary to purchase Fairmount Park, and 

57 



was the first subscriber of $10,000 to- 
ward the Centennial Exposition. 

Childs and General U. S. Grant were 
intimates, and General Grant at one time 
toured the country in Mr. Childs' pri- 
vate car. 

He used his money freely in good 
works, and it seems to have always re- 
turned to him. 

At his death a large endowment was 
left for the Printers' Home at Colorado 
Springs, and many other w^orthy insti- 
tutions were remembered. 

Mr. Childs died at Philadelphia, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1894, and funeral services were 
held in many parts of the country by 
members of typographical unions. 

Mr. Childs w^as a friend of presidents, 
emperors, statesmen, and eminent men in 
great numbers, but was alwa^^s demo- 
cratic and always a modest and unassum- 
ing friend of the people. 



58 



CHAPTER TWELVE 






CYRUS HALL MCCORMICK 

YRUS HALL MCCORMICK WaS 

born at Walnut Grove, Vir- 
ginia, February 15, 1809. 
His father had invented va- 
rious labor-saving farm de- 
vices, and it is notable that 
his grain-cutting machine 
was invented the year Cyrus was born. 
Cyrus worked on his father's fai*m 
and in the workshop where the farm im- 
plements were made in the intervals of 
attending public school. 

When Cyrus was twenty-two years 
old he added to his father's machine and 
perfected some details which had been 
troublesome, securing patents on his im- 
provements in 1834. 

He worked in Cincinnati and became 
interested in an iron foundry which 
failed in 1837, after which he returned 

59 



to Walnut Grove. He assisted his 
father in the manufacture of the reapers 
and went about among the farmers sohc- 
iting orders. 

After his father's death he made 
many further improvements on the ma- 
chine which was by this time manu- 
factured in Cincinnati. 

A new factory was estabhshed in Chi- 
cago in 1848 and in 1851 Mr. McCor- 
mick exhibited his perfected reaper at 
the World's Fair in London. 

In 1897 a government estimate states 
that the McCormick inventions saved the 
farmers of the United States one hun- 
dred million dollars annually. 

In 1850 he established what later be- 
came the McCormick Theological Sem- 
inary and gave to this institution at va- 
rious times over a quarter of a million 
dollars. He made gifts to Washington 
and Lee University, the Union Theolog- 
ical Seminary of Virginia, and Hastings 
College at Hastings, Nebraska. 

It may be said that his fortune was 
founded while he was at work as a sales- 
man among the farmers near his father's 
home. He traveled on horseback and by 



buckboard, and liIs expenses were so 
modest that the profits reahzed from his 
sales of machines were wholly left for 
division between his father and himself. 

He married Miss Nettie Fowler of 
New York. After the Chicago fire he 
built large factories and a number of 
business blocks, all of which are today a 
part of the McCormick estates. 

In selecting names for a place in the 
Hall of Fame for great Americans his 
name was classed with those of Fulton, 
Howe, Morse and Whitney. 

Mr. McCormick's character may be 
known by his most intimate friends. He 
frequently entertained Horace Greeley, 
Peter Cooper and others of the greatest 
and best men of his day. 

Mr. McCormick was above all a friend 
of the farmer. Raised as a farmer's son, 
he always enjoyed the companionship of 
"the men who till the soil." He was a 
lover of home, a friend of the many, and 
left a name to his son Cyrus Hall Mc- 
Cormick, Jr., of which he may well be 
proud. 

Mr. McCormick died at his Chicago 
home on the 13th day of May, 1884. 

61 



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